how would you have handled covid if you were pm ?

[warmandtoasty2day]

so many boris slaggers on here and arm chair scientists, but i'm curious to know how would you have done from the start in dealing with this?
i'm an ordinary person in the street, good education, up to now, life time of common sense and have had a large family but i wouldn't begin to know where to begin on this one .

Another one: I wouldn't have shaken hands with loads of Covid patients I met, then told everyone I had done so, at a time when a big public health campaign to get us all to stop unnecessary contact like shaking hands was just getting going.

There have been loads of threads on here about this, it's easy to be an expert with hindsight. But we should have worked together with Ireland. The main problem we've had was a government fixated on getting Brexit done and not caring about anything else, or staffing itself accordingly, so we've had idiots in charge.

It may be that the virus has just lain dormant over the summer and reared its ugly head as the days got colder and longer, but stopping overseas holidays over the summer (and generally) would have been sensible. I can't believe people have been ski-ing this Christmas, for example and people were away in October half term too.

And yes there were some mass gatherings in March which should have been stopped. I was supposed to go to a concert on 17th March and it was only cancelled the night before. It was crazy.

I’d want much much more testing, and I wouldn’t have put people in the position of having to lie to get a test just because their symptoms fall outside of the stupidly narrow criteria required to get one. I would ensure people were paid their normal wage to self isolate when they were asked to so that no one avoided taking a test or isolating because they couldn’t afford to.

All of the above but primarily actually have a clear, strictly followed strategy. Be proactive, not reactive. Actually have the balls to make unpopular decisions promptly. Actually LEAD, be realistic but optimistic and “can do” - be a bit more Churchill - tell us we’re in the shit but give us a honest appraisal of how we’re getting out of it.

And most of all STOP OVERPROMISING.

"banning flights from China would have had a limited effect on spread into the UK - that wouldn't stop those who travelled to the UK from places such as Singapore, the Gulf, "Mainland" Europe."

That should have read "stop those who travelled from China into the UK via places".

I think we should have acted quicker to stop those huge gatherings in mid March so Cheltenham, the Spanish football game in Madrid and various concerts. (Most of initial strain was Spain and Italy not China)

Strict quarantine for al those coming back from ski resorts Feb half term.

But honestly I’ve lately been wondering unless you lock down completely a al China and New Zealand this virus just seems to run its course to have similar outcomes in most European countries. Those that had lower death rates in the first wave and seemed to have a handle on it (Germany for example) have suffered more in the second wave.

I do think some deaths could have been avoided with earlier action though.

Ignoring the WHO seems like a good strategy, they were the ones who said there was no point in stopping international flights and shutting borders.

Controversially I would have opened schools in May through to July when cases were lower and kids could be outside more. Less pressure on health service then too. Then a natural break in August.

Staggered return in Sept. Then all shut for the last term before Christmas. As they wouldn’t have missed so much in Spring the closure in November/Dec would make more sense due to seasonality of viruses and pressure on NHS.

Agree with the poster who had vitamin D strategy. I’d get all hospital patients and care home residents on a vitamin D program.

Sorry the Spanish game in Liverpool not Madrid.

Well I would not have laughed it off like a joke at the beginning this setting an unhelpful tone and I would have fired Cummings immediately.

And there is the first flaw in your plan. What do people do if they don’t have a separate bedroom and bathroom? And how do you police it?

Then they clean after themselves or isolate elsewhere

How would I police it? I would treat people as adults for a start and base every communication on everyone doing their bit to help the effort against the virus.

Night time curfew. Employ many covid wardens to patrol around with exorbitant fines. Close international travel. Masks mandatory in schools. Those exempt to wear a lanyard. People wearing masks wrongly to be fined. Being lax has got us where we are today.

Amongst other things mentioned - I would stop pretending I was the victim in every speech I gave to the public and not made wild promises of freedom in Summer, Easter or whenever. I would not have promised to allow families to meet for Christmas and as soon as Sage told me the numbers were going through the roof I would have stopped all Christmas mixing.

I would not allow people to bubble with someone in a different area. It would either be the same county or 10 miles away to cover county boundaries. (I know Covid infections that have spread due to long distance bubbles.)

@BlairCorneliaWaldorf

Everyone in isolation for 14 days on return - make it clear that isolation means separate room/bathroom etc

And there is the first flaw in your plan. What do people do if they don’t have a separate bedroom and bathroom? And how do you police it?

Not quite so easy...

Put them up in hotel accommodation to isolate on arrival. Like many other countries did.

Stopped flights from Wuhan in mid Jan, then China, then Iran and Italy, then simply closed the borders. The borders should have been shut to casual travel (not accompanied freight) from lockdown, then inwards repatriation only, with quarantine (home based, but with jail time for breaches).

This is all lovely to say in hindsight, but masks were sold out in January and office talk was of nothing but corona and when we would stop the flights, shut the border and work from home. If 66million of us had it figured out, why the fuck couldn't any of our parliament (left or right)?

WHY didn't they stop the flights?
WHY is the border still open?

Id have taken a leaf out of Jacindas book. Hi hard, go esrly. It seems to have worked for new Zealand

Put them up in hotel accommodation to isolate on arrival. Like many other countries did.

Or stern prison time for any breaches. Make a couple of examples - the others will do as they're told.

I'd have recommended non medical masks from the outset, just to lower the viral load you may receive if around someone with the virus, and reduce the load you could be expelling if you unwittingly have the virus yourself and I would have recommended vitamin d to everyone. It's fairly cheap, readily available, some studies show it has an impact (don't think there are any that show it has a detrimental effect)

The main answer is closing the borders in January. Many of us asked MPs to do it and were ignored. Boris swanned off on holiday...

Then, in summer, cases were at near zero so we had the chance to prevent the second wave by closing borders and putting proper quarantines and track and and trace in place. Instead they did the opposite: encouraged people to go on holiday and out to restaurants and eased restrictions.

Conference centres, sports halls, theatres, cinemas, hotels, stadiums stood empty which should have been utilised to enable socially distanced learning for the school return in Sept.

Idiocy at every turn.

Closed the borders in March. Any returning residents to quarantine in Government approved hotel at their own expense for 2 weeks.

Locked down a week earlier and cancelled the Liverpool match and races etc.

Everyone to wear masks indoors and outdoors.

Oh yes and utilise all available spaces for education such as libraries.

Actually use the nightingale hospitals and recruit extra medical staff from abroad (subject to quarantine of course).

@BlairCorneliaWaldorf

Everyone in isolation for 14 days on return - make it clear that isolation means separate room/bathroom etc

And there is the first flaw in your plan. What do people do if they don’t have a separate bedroom and bathroom? And how do you police it?

Not quite so easy...

Other countries manage. Hotels, the army, etc.

But of course, the UK is special, and can’t be expected to implement what works in other countries.

The travel industry are actively encouraging travel abroad. Close the borders FFS, now.

corporate.ryanair.com/news/ryanair-further-extends-the-waiving-of-flight-change-fee-for-all-december-and-january-bookings/

www.tui.co.uk/destinations/info/travel-with-confidence?vlid=trvcnf

I have a very long list! But one thing I would have done would have been to advise against all non-essential travel to Northern Italy at the point it became apparent that Covid was circulating widely there. (NB I am not being wise after the event on this one. I actually e-mailed my MP arguing for just such a policy at a time when there was no such policy in place. ) Adopting such a policy could have significantly slowed the spread here and bought valuable time.

@Indecisive12

I would have shut the borders apart from freight. I also prior to the pandemic wouldn’t have had the NHS and police on their kneeS. I would have followed advice from the mock pandemic scenario a few years ago. The NHS would have coped better as we’d have had fewer cases and more staff, more efficient services. The police would have been able to enforce restrictions. I’d have introduced masks early on by ignoring WHO and following the countries who dealt with it effectively. Schools may have been on a rota but staff and pupils above a certain age would have worn masks. I’d have gained the respect of the people by not leaking things to the press

This ^^

@Orf1abc

Two more:

Allowing experts to give their opinion without fear of losing their jobs. Scientists should not be influenced by politics.
Test and trace administered by local authorities as a first step, not details passed to them a week later when Serco failed to make contact. You need people that understand local demographics, not some faceless virtual call centre.

And this ^^

Closed the borders

Housed guarantining travellers in closed hotels

Enlist the dfe along with furloughed local authority advisors for education plus ofted possibly, to devise and publish a centralised online education programme, possibly including TV channels.

Erect outdoor structures in school grounds, shift the focus to forest school type learning. Use public areas for teaching, all socially distanced. Parents can choose this or home learning. Small classes eg 15 or less, equals more progress and good relationships.

Prioritise NHS staff and teaching staff fir vaccines...

Fund wellbeing measures eg yoga, counselling, creative therapy within schooling. Suspend assessment Sats, phonics check etc and trust teachers to assess and recover their classes.

Fund soap, paper towels, thermometers, dettol etc for schools. Increase staffing to include full time cleaners in schools. Proper school nurses to take temps, assess risk etc.

Actual decent test and trace system.